Blog

President Donald Trump has very robust plans to "rebuild" America’s defenses. He wants to add about 100,000 more ground forces; expand the Navy from 280 to 350 ships; and provide the Air Force 1,200 fighters. These are ambitious and extraordinarily expensive aspirations. But more about that shortly. In Brussels, speaking at a major conference, Chairman […]

“Beware the Ides of March.” So Julius Caesar was cautioned. Caesar ignored the warning and was assassinated. Over this past Ides of March, President Donald Trump performed a double “hat trick.” The phrase was invented in 1858 at an English cricket match. The bowler, H.H. Stevenson, took three wickets with three successive bowls. To mark […]

… and why we need a Summit on Good Governance The world is yet again at cross-roads. In the post-post-Cold war era, the “world risk society” i) thesis became more realistic than ever, proven by the multi-dimensional ubiquitous threats and risks, as the world is facing a type of “illiberal international order” ii). From the […]

What might Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next steps be toward Europe, the West and the United States for advancing Russian interests globally? Obviously, the policies of the Trump administration are, at best, unclear if not contradictory. Hence, Putin needs to understand who in the White House and administration is key in making policy. An iron […]

One of the most crucial issues for international security is the future of the rift between the West and Russia. Is this rift reparable? If the answer is yes, how might this be achieved? Or is this confrontation a 21st century version of the past Cold War in which the inimical interests of the parties, […]

For some time now, media outlets have divided their attention towards two main topics, both of which are based on the idea of a paradigm change. On my previous post i.e. Post-truth politics and alt-reality media, I have highlighted one of them, namely the age “in which absolute truth becomes a zero-stake game and what […]

Since its creation in 1949, NATO has been at many “crossroads” when its future was often seen in doubt. The most serious rift came in 1966. French President Charles de Gaulle, fearful of the risks of automatic nuclear escalation in the event of war with the Soviet Union and angered at what he saw as […]

As strongly predicted, 2017 will continue to keep Middle East in turmoil and the near future seems to see no substantial improvement. In spite of these, the EU pledged to enhance its commitment and assistance to the region in the continuous attempt to ensure stability in its neighborhood. This article will briefly address the priority […]

Even with President Donald J. Trump asserting that his White House is "running like a fine-tuned machine," the rest of the world is not. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis sees it, an "arc of instability" runs from the Western Mediterranean to the Eastern Bay of Bengal. Not a scintilla of evidence suggests that […]

In the early 1980s, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. E.C. “Shy” Meyer warned of “a hollow force,” that is a depleted military untrained, ill equipped and unready to carry out its responsibilities. Lack of defense spending was the culprit. Make no mistake: That is happening again. Unless action is taken now, the U.S. military […]

The 2017 edition of the Strategikon Annual Book – The Year of Challenging Choices

It’s not easy to be a leader, but the solution is closer than people may think and it has to do with returning to some good old fashioned traits that shaped leaders in past decades: will power, values and vision. Launched at the Good Governance Summit, The Year of Challenging Choices strives to understand the fault lines in international relations and the relevant actors, as they are and not how they appear to be.